Week Four In-Class Writing Exercise Poetry

The three lines that I picked are from the Ruebner poem, “A Postcard From Tel Aviv.” The lines that really stand out and are somewhat relatable to me are the lines “Tel Aviv, a colorful city, is very white. She changes all the time and stays always what she is. Tel Aviv is a clean, dirty city.”The next line in the poem proceeds to talk about, what I instantly think about when I read these three lines, there is so much more to something or someone, than just what you see off the bat or what you’ve heard about beforehand, the poem goes on to say that your perception of Tel Aviv is going to rely entirely on how you look at her. I think this is a lesson that is extremely relevant and applicable to so many walks of life. 

When I read these lines, it reminded me of the saying I’ve been taught my entire life, don’t judge a book by its cover. And as I go t older that saying expanded into, just because someone else judges something differently than you, it is okay and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This really takes me back to my college decision. Picking a university to study at for 4 years was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. And while at the end of the day it was my choice, throughout the process I felt like I had so many little birds chirping away at me on their opinions of the schools I was looking at and where they wanted to go. When it came down to it, my top choice was Michigan. Even when I would talk to different people regarding open university, I heard so many different things. Every individual has their own perspective or outlook on everything. Peoples’ perceptions of Michigan, and the info I was hearing as I was picking schools surfaced in my head as I read the first few lines of this poem. It was another example of how one city, can be perceived so many ways. What it really comes down to, in my opinion, is that a place is more than just a place. And so much of the significance, and what makes that place so unique is the people who live there. “Tel Aviv, a colorful city, is very white.” In my opinion this line while short has a lot of significance. Yes, many of the buildings in the city are white, however the people and the atmosphere and the culture is extremely colorful. I see the university of Michigan in a similar light, the campus is pretty, but also very bland and some would say it looks a lot like many other college campuses that they have visited, the uniqueness lies within the people, the motivated, intellectual, rowdy, dedicated student body. That is what makes Michigan Michigan, not just the building, or the campus etc.